would you drink it?

by Robert C. Lehrman on November 6, 2008

Fred Franzia likes to say he can make good wine from grapes grown just about anywhere. These two labels tend to show he could also make wine from just about anything. This tomato wine seems to decide the age-old question of whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. TTB classified it as a “table fruit wine” and the winery itself says it’s made with “only the finest fruits available … ” Along the same lines, here is an avocado wine, vinted and bottled in Florida. TTB classified it as a “table fruit wine.”

by Robert C. Lehrman on November 3, 2008

Large is the number of alcohol beverages with a reputation for elegance and exclusivity polished to a fine sheen. An example is Armand de Brignac Champagne. But in a burst of contrarian marketing, The Grateful Palate is running full speed in the opposite direction. Stench and Filth are Australian sparkling wines, recently approved. They are part of a Punk Bubbles line of sparkling wines. The line also includes Cheated, Vacant (For Humans) and No Future. Should we look forward to the 2005 Sewage?

by Robert C. Lehrman on October 29, 2008

Just when we got accustomed to mushrooms in the entree, two companies in Korea went and added mushrooms to the beverage. Tannenbaum “Mushroom Sake” is Rice Wine with Rice Neutral Spirits and Mushroom. Song-I Ju is Grain Neutral Spirits with Natural Matsutake Mushroom Flavor.

by Robert C. Lehrman on October 13, 2008

If the US Government is warming up to North Korea, how much longer can it be until Cuban Rum is back? TTB has started to allow a small number of products from North Korea, and the news a few days ago is that this is part of a broader US-North Korea cooperation. Does anyone find the D in DPR a tad misleading? A good trend or bad? We’ll go way out on a limb and foolishly boldly predict that Cuban Rum will be back in the US (legally) within two years, after an almost 50-year absence. The story is documented in this new book: “Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause.”